What are Clefs in Music? How to Read Treble, Bass, Alto, and Tenor Clef

What are Clefs in Music? How to Read Treble, Bass, Alto, and Tenor Clef

by Emiko Hayashi

What are clefs in Music? How do I read the notes? Music is usually notated using the Staff– five horizontal lines on which musical notes lie. The lines and the spaces between the lines represent different pitches (ie. notes) We use Clefs to tell us which notes correspond to which lines. The most common clefs are the TrebleClef and Bass Clef but we also use Alto Clef and Tenor Clef.

The Treble Clef, also called the G Clef curls around the 2nd line of the staff, showing the pitch G to be the note on the second line.

This simply means that starting from G, we can figure out the other notes on the staff using the sequence of G, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G as shown below.

The Bass Clef is also called an F-clef, wraps around the highest F note on the bass staff.

Starting from F, we can figure out the other notes on the staff using the sequence of F, G, A, B, C, D, E, and F as shown below.

Recommended Articles for You

Musika Music Lessons has been offering private music instruction since 2001. The music teachers in our network create customized lesson plans for each student, and help you bring music alive one note at a time!

5 thoughts on “What are Clefs in Music? How to Read Treble, Bass, Alto, and Tenor Clef”

As a school-trained trombonist, I never had ANY exposure to anything other than bass clef until my senior year in high school. At that point the sight of a tenor clef was terrifying to me. I see all these weblogs with people talking about how easily they read all these clefs and it is clear to me that they had training in them much earlier than I did because all these years later I still struggle with them. I’ll take bass clef 8va over anything else, any day….
So, to make my point, any young person wishing to become a proficient trombonist someday MUST enroll in private instruction with an emphasis on clefs and how to properly transition between them. All the instruction should be in other clefs and leave the bass clef to the school’s music. They don’t teach all these clefs in school music programs and for trombonists they are mandatory. Any trombonist in the real world is expected to be able to sight-read music in four different clefs- treble, alto, tenor, and bass. Learning to read these clefs should start at the beginning of a trombonist’s training and continue throughout.
I would further suggest taking trumpet lessons using your trombone since being able to read transposing treble is also essential. Anyone who tries to play trombone in a Salvation Army brass band without that skill under their belt is in for a rude awakening. Their music is pretty much written for trumpet players with the intention that they can double on any instrument needed. Only bass trombone uses bass clef in their world.
You better marry that trombone because getting to be really good at it takes a lot more study in a lot more areas than most other musical instruments. You won’t have time for much else.

Whatever instrument you play, get yourself a book of Bach chorales notated all in C clefs (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone), and practice the lines separately and (if you play a keyboard instrument) together. This is what I did when I took piano lessons in college, almost 50 years ago. Fluency in the C clefs is as rare as fluency in classical Latin and Greek — and just as desirable. I haven’t achieved it, and probably never will, but it’s on my bucket list. :)